It's Hard Being a Single Dad in America

Demographically, over 90% of the participants strongly agreed that fatherhood is crucial in our society. A little over 47% of fathers, that encouragement from the mothers of their children matters because of the obstacles they faced with finance, and their duties on the job. The final results of marital status statistics is over 80% married fathers, nine percent divorced, and six percent never married. One surprising statistic was 90% cohabitate with the mother and focal child (Glenn & Popenoe, 2006).

In Australia single parenting has grown rapidly and accepted. “Between 1996 and 2011, children in one parent families increased from 6% to 7% with female lone-parents increasing from 3% to 4% while male lone-parents remained at 1% (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2015b).” According to the statistics of single parenthood, the

Child welfare services in the UK are funded by the ‘child benefit’ programme. Child benefit has been integral to the income of families throughout the UK for more than three decades now and it still prioritises poor children in the benefits and tax system. A universal child benefit programme assists in the redistribution of resources from taxation (Lewis, 2008, p. 126). Child benefit supplanted a tax allowance programme for parents, but was changed into a payment scheme due to the fact that tax allowances mostly give advantage to primary earners (Farthing, 2012, p. 4-5). Child benefit is given to the primary caregiver, generally mothers.

Did you know that more than one fourth of all children in the United States live with only one parent? Single parenting has become more common today than in the 1800s, when it was sometimes frowned upon. As the years have gone by, it has become easier and easier for women to become single parents. In the 1800’s if husbands died or abandoned their families, women had no choice but to work for extremely low and unfair wages. Today, most men and women are treated equal and receive equal wages making it easier for women to be single parents. This concept is shown in Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer through Aunt Polly in the 19th century, single parenting is also common today.

Furthermore, after mum explained the events which had unfolded I can understand the reason for her distrust of social workers. Mum feels that social services appoint ‘blame’ and work against her and her partner. Mum talked about being lied to and deceived, as opposed to ensuring the parents feel involved and empowered in decisions which affect the family. However, I am aware that the need to safeguard the children may have accounted for disallowing the parents from having too much influence or say in developments.

However, by rising to these challenges, custodial single parents develop significant strengths. The positive benefits of being a single parent are that the child receives a lesson in independence. The child sees how strong the one parent is at providing them with everything they need without having to depend on someone else. The parents are showing their children that it is possible to live on their own, have an enjoyable life and take care of others while doing so. The children will know that they are a priority to the parent. When there is a second parent around the house, it can be easy to put responsibility off on them, but when the children see how hard the parent is working for them, they will understand how important they are to their parent. (Dowd, 1997)

In 2002, number of children living with their single parent was 16.5 million (Davidson). The most important thing is that each single-parent family is different from the other. Children who live with a widowed mother will definitely be living a different home life from children with divorced parents or the one whose parents were never married. Children of the parents who were divorced will always have some kind of relationship with parents and parents’ partners. But it is obvious that children from single-parent families face tougher times economically as well as

Stay at home fathers represents a growing group within the United States. The definition of a stay at home father is a father who is the daily primary caregiver to his children under the age of eighteen. Nearly two million men are staying at home and being the primary caregiver for their children (Livingston pg1). The rise of stay at home fathers have become sociologically important because it represents the reversal of traditional gender roles. A gender role is a set of societal norms which dictate the types of behavior accepted for people based on their sexual orientation. Traditional norms about men are centered on the idea that men should be the primary breadwinners and women should be the ones staying home and taking care of the children. The emergence of stay at home fathers completely defies this idea. As a result to shifts in family dynamics, men’s roles as fathers have undergone transformations. This paper will further evaluate the traditional gender roles and how stay at home fathers defy societal norms, discuss the reasons for the rising trend of stay at home fathers, and show the benefits of a stay at home father.

This essay will critically compare and contrast the New Labour and Coalition Government’s approach towards Children and Family policies. Significantly looking at the years 1997 onwards, this essay will focus on the different approaches taken by both parties (towards the policy Sure Start). For example, Sure Start. Sure Start was a New Labour “flagship” introduced by the Chancellor of Exchequer (Gordon Brown), its aim was to:

Another, problem that legal aid cuts have raised is parents fighting for custody, if a legal aid service cannot represent one side, it states how they will struggle without the help of legal aid and then won’t get the custody and which will go to the other parent that’s probably not fit to take custody for the kids. For instance, a mother that is low on income, she won’t be able to afford her own representation and she won’t receive legal aid as she’s not mentally unstable, this will leave her for litigation, but the fact she won’t win because she cannot procedure sufficient evidence against her opposite

The roll out of Family Referral Services throughout NSW. The transfer of services to the non-government not-for-profit sector , included the transfer of Out-of-Home Care and the Brighter Futures program a program for vulnerable young people 9-15. The Income Management recommendation was not supported by NCOSS. More funding for early intervention and Non-government sector workforce and capacity building. NCOSS also sought commitments from government and the other parties to develop a comprehensive industry plan for the non-government human services sector. In relation to community strengthening and service enhancements NCOSS sought commitments from all political parties to fund programs that strengthen communities and to provide additional supports in the areas of housing, homelessness services, domestic violence, mental health and drug and alcohol services. This reform has been described by The Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) as one of the major reforms to child protection policy and practice in NSW since the introduction of mandatory reporting in

Today in America, 34% of children are living with an unmarried parent. In 1960, only 9% were living in a single family household, and the number increased to 19% in the 1980s. Fewer than one-in-three children are living

The new government also reduced financial help to support families with childcare costs and breakfast clubs in school’s across the country lost funding from the government. This loss of support effected those is severe poverty the most, some have reported ‘’ getting into debt and cutting back on essentials like food, house- hold bills and after-school activities to try and sustain their childcare’’ (Tess, 2013, p. 408). This can affect young people and children in these families as being in debt can cause them to be at risk of experiencing the unpleasantness of debt collectors and bailiffs and in some serious cases homelessness. Cutting back on food or more expensive healthier food can also impact children and

Single parent households are a sensitive topic that is highly debated today. This topic is one that has repercussions for both the parents and the children involved. However, regardless of the different consequences, these households continue to grow in the coming years. “In 1970, traditional two-parent married households dominated, making up 81 % of all households in the United States (US). By 2012 this number dropped to around 66 % … In 2012, approximately 21 million children, or 28 % of all children in the US, lived with one parent” (Kramer, 2015). It is interesting to look at the way the single parent households continue to grow throughout the years, all while being a hot topic for discussion on its consequences. When thinking about a book to read for this course, there was no real choice. I stumbled upon this book and knew right away that I could benefit from this book, as well as connect to it on a deeper level and relate to it personally.

It is commonly believed that for normal development a child needs two opposite sex parents. Mother provides nurturance and caretaking and father ‘‘is the grinding stone on which his son sharpens his emerging masculinity and the appreciative audience to which his daughter plays out her femininity (Pruett, 2000, p. 87).” Not all the children are raised in two parent family, single parent is a common part of our society. Single mothers and less common single farthers raise their children and nobody doubts there parenting skills, because not only their parent but also other relatives and media influence on children.